1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to articles of clothing and more specifically to a safety garment for industrial or construction workers and hunters.
2. Description of Related Art
Numerous articles of clothing have been devised for enhancing the safety of their wearers. Over the years, some of the most significant advances in the art have involved safety devices directly incorporated into a piece of clothing. However, none of the techniques described hereinbelow results in a garment which incorporates a safety harness which allows workers or hunters to reliably secure themselves to a support structure or, in the case of a hunter, a tree, particularly when the hunter is positioned at some height above the ground. Moreover, none of the references herein described presents a garment having provision for removable leg loops and/or providing a selectively removable liner in a garment enabling workers or hunters to be able to quickly put on the requisite safety gear when on the job or in the field.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,046, describes a safety jacket and harness system, including a body harness formed by a pair of torso bands and a pair of shoulder straps. The torso bands form an upper torso band and a lower torso band. Each torso band has a fastening member attached to end portions. The pair of shoulder straps each has a first shoulder strap portion and a second shoulder strap portion. Each shoulder strap portion is coupled together by a fastening member. Included is a center strap that is fixedly attached to the torso bands and has a locking member at a top end. A safety strap has a first safety strap end that can couple with the locking member of the center strap, and a second safety strap end that can be looped and fastened around a tree trunk. An attachment strap is attached to the safety strap. A jacket receives the body harness when worn by a hunter using a tree stand with the center strap of the harness coupled to the attachment strap looped around the trunk. Similarly, in the case of an industrial or construction worker the attachment strap is attached to the safety strap and a structure such as a beam.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,101,631, issued Aug. 15, 2000, to Ferguson, Jr., describes a full-body harness system which is located between an outer shell and an inner liner and having a back located D-ring extending from the outer shell for attachment to a safety line, the D-ring being covered when not in use by a flap. U.S. Pat. No. 5,970,517, issued to Jordan, describes a harness assembly having an integral support line. The harness assembly includes a harness body having first and second ends that extend from the harness body. The harness is secured within a garment. The garment has a front opening which is normally covered by a releasable flap. The first and second ends of the support line extend through the front opening and are accessible when the flap is moved to an open position. The first end of the support line may be pulled away from the harness to extend the support line therefrom. The second end of the support line is secured to the harness.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,782, issued Oct. 10, 2000, to Young et al. describes a combination clothing/safety harness. The safety harness may be attached to various articles of clothing, such as a jacket, vest, overalls, or coveralls, so that donning the article of clothing automatically positions the harness for use.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,035,440, issued to Woodyard, discloses a safety vest which incorporates a safety harness between a vest inner lining and a vest outer shell with attachment couplers and rings incorporated in the vest in vest pockets that store the attachment couplers and rings out of sight in communicating between the harness and a lanyard external to the vest.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,979,153, issued to E. J. Hoagland et al., describes a safety suit for supporting a person""s body in an upright manner during hoisting, including a garment arranged to extend around the torso of a body and a plurality of annularly extending straps defining body embracing nooses.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,877, issued to Gallinati, describes a vest adapted to be worn by a workman operating at perilous heights. The vest has straps between the lining and the outer fabric. The straps have crossed sections in the back of the garment and vertical sections in the front panels.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,216, issued to Weissmann, describes a safety jacket adapted to have a line secured thereto for anchoring the wearer of the jacket in the event he loses his footing. The jacket includes a harness having a pair of shoulder straps and a belt made of polypropylene which is threaded through loops at the ends of the shoulder straps.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,302,847, issued to Miles, describes body protective clothing to be worn over or in place of outer garments for protection while actively participating in various sports. A zippered vest-type garment including a resilient foam insert along the lower portion of the torso includes adjustable front closure straps for maintaining the position of the foam about the lower back and hip bones.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,882, issued to Ekman, discloses a garment that is connectable to a safety line or the like and which includes at least one band, which is intended to take up the weight of a person wearing the garment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,724, issued to Grilliot et al., relates to a firefighter""s trousers and safety harness combination. At least a portion of the safety harness is positioned and supported within the firefighter""s trousers.
British Patent No. 1,233,761 shows a safety harness having integral seat and jacket portions, the seat portion including couplers whereby the harness can be suspended from wires or ropes and the jacket portion including sufficient buoyancy to keep the wearer of the harness afloat if dropped into water.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,027, issued Sep. 8, 1992, to Petzl et al. describes a sit safety harness with high loops in the form of closed loops fitted on a belt with a central clasp.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,590, issued Mar. 1, 1994, to Larson, describes a combined work trousers and safety harness having leg loops.
U.S. Pat. No. RE37,394 E, issued Oct. 2, 2001, to Woodyard describes a safety vest incorporating a safety harness with leg loops.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,379, issued Jun. 12, 2001, to Larson, describes an automatically adjustable safety harness having leg loops.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,704, issued Sep. 24, 1993, to Olsson, describes a climbing loop clipped to harness rings on a harness worn by a climber.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,651, issued Feb. 20, 2001, to Sadeck, describes a harness having a belt and leg loops.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,424,134, issued Jan. 28, 1969, to Rosenblum, describes a safety harness having leg loops.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.
The safety garment for industrial and construction workers, hunters, naturalists, and other outdoorsmen provides a garment which incorporates a safety harness into the body of a jacket, coat, or other apparel. The safety garment protects workers when working at dangerous heights or near dangerous machinery from injury from falling and allows hunters using elevated positions such as trees or tree stands to focus on the sport, instead of worrying about falling. The safety garment is made up of a safety harness with a central attachment ring for receiving a safety rope or line for releasably anchoring a wearer to an anchor point such as a beam or the trunk of a tree. The safety harness is preferably sewn or otherwise located within or on the outer surface of an inner liner or vest which is preferably selectively removably attached to an outer shell in the form of an outer vest, jacket, shirt, parka, or other garment. Alternatively, the safety harness may be sewn or otherwise located or secured into the inside surface of the outer shell. In a third embodiment, the safety harness is merely encased between the outer shell and the inner liner, and is free to move relative to both the shell and the liner. In each embodiment the harness is fully covered so that it is essentially invisible from the outside.
The harness includes a waist belt and matching belt coupler on the belt ends which may be releasably interlocked as a buckle. The belt ends extend out from under the inner lining of the safety garment, the inner lining in the preferred embodiment being selectively removable. An opening is provided in the upper mid-portion of the safety garment outer shell?s back, defining a pocket which passes through the safety garment""s outer shell and has associated with it a flap, which acts to cover or overlie the opening. A safety strap having an attachment ring securely fastened thereon and being of a length sufficient to pass from the harness through the shell opening to the outside of the safety garment outer shell is also provided as part of the safety harness, the safety strap extending upward from the waist belt. The pocket serves as a cavity in which the ring, as well as its associated strap, is stored when not in use. Removable leg straps may be provided which attach in a variety of alternative ways to the waist belt of the harness. The use of leg straps with the safety harness as included in the garment jacket or vest is preferred in order to distribute the forces over the body during an arrested fall in order to protect the upper body from excessive force applied upon arrest of the fall. Such excessive force may, in some instances, tend to suffocate the wearer or cause bruises or broken ribs.
The harness includes a pair of shoulder straps or loops, each having respective ends attached to the waist belt and each forming front and back shoulder loop or strap portions. In one embodiment the back shoulder loop portions converge to intersect in the rear portion of the back to form a juncture connection. Underarm straps may also be provided extending laterally to connect a respective pair of adjacent front and rear shoulder loop portions. Thus, the harness includes crossed back sections and vertical front sections. The crossed back sections may be interconnected intermediate their ends in the juncture connection which is positioned intermediate the neck portion and the lower edge of the vest and medially between the sides. The safety strap is fixedly attached to the harness at this juncture and also at the waist belt at the point of intersection with the midline of the back.
In the event the harness is in use, such as during a fall or when dragging a deer carcass, the pulling forces on the harness are equalized in both directions, providing maximally efficient distribution of force on the body harness. In a lighter duty embodiment the back sections end at the juncture in the manner of conventional pants suspenders. In another embodiment, shoulder straps simply extend from the front of the belt, to the rear of the belt. One or more additional belts with buckles spaced upward along the torso may be added to each of the embodiments, the safety strap being fastened to the back thereof as desired.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a safety garment having a safety harness incorporated therein.
It is another object of the invention to provide a safety garment whereby the placement of safety harness may be easily and more comfortably worn by a worker or hunter and positioned for maximum positive effect.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a safety garment wherein the harness is designed to work in combination with the inner layer and outer layers of the garment to increase the wearer""s safety.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an inner layer as above in the form of a liner which is selectively removable from the outer layer in the form of an outer shell.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a safety garment which safely arrests the fall of the worker or hunter during an accident.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved garment, which restrains the wearer from falling into dangerous machinery or keeps the wearer from falling from vehicles such as fork lifts.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a garment as above having attachments for removable leg loops for attachment to the waist belt of the safety harness.
It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof in an apparatus for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.
These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.